[T3] NOS Bosch Reverse Light Kit - Installation Help Needed

[Bobsnotch at aol.com]

In a message dated 5/25/15 10:12:17 AM Central Daylight Time, 
sjbartnik at mac.com writes:

> Hello all,
>  
>  I picked up one of those NOS Bosch reverse light kits, with the switch 
that 
> mounts on the transaxle's nose cone and the operating lever that mounts 
on 
> the shift rod.  I tried to install this yesterday but I got hung up on 
step 1.
> 
>  
>  To power the switch, you run a wire from the fuse box down under the 
edge of 
> the mat and then through the rear kick panel with the brake line into the 
> under-rear-seat area.  Then the instructions say to pass the wire through 
the 
> grommet with the brake line and this is somehow supposed to get the wire 
into 
> the tunnel so you can get power to the switch at the shift rod coupler.
>  
>  Well, as far as I can tell, the brake line doesn't go into the tunnel at 
all,
>  it seems to run from the under-seat area through its own passage and 
comes 
> out under the car pretty far to the left of the tunnel where there's a T 
> connection for the hard lines to the left and right wheels.  I tried 
feeding 
> the wire through there but  no luck.
>  
>  So what am I missing?  Can you in fact get the wire into the tunnel from 
the 
> hole for the brake hard line?  Is there another way to get the wire into 
the 
> tunnel short of drilling a hole?  Is there another route I can take to 
get 
> the wire into the tunnel?
>  
>  I looked at the voltage regulator wiring but it looks like it goes 
through a 
> harness between the inner and outer fenders so that's not gonna work.  I 
also 
> looked at the main battery cable but Keith had replaced that with a 
gigantic 
> welding cable (no starting issues here!) so I don't think I could 
physically 
> fit this little wire through the grommet with it.   :D
>  
>  The instruction sheet was in German but I ran it through Google 
Translate 
> which seemed to do a pretty good job.  The relevant portions:
>  
>  2) Connect the black wire from the harness to fuse No. 1 (terminal 15) 
with 
> plug distributor. Cable installation (see Figure 4) downwards, under the 
mats 
> edge to the rear and front of the partition wall to the center of the 
frame 
> tunnel. Remove the rear seat and pull cable along the brake pipe through 
the 
> partition.
>  
>  3) From the vehicle underside of the lid frame tunnel Unscrew, pull out 
the 
> black wire end and connect to the reversing light switch.
>  
>  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.  I abandoned this project 
> yesterday when it was late and it became clear that I was missing 
something.

Sean, I was going to suggest going thru the battery cable grommet, as 
that's straight thru the to the rear of the pan, and semi close to the nose of 
the shifter coupler. I don't know if in 65 VW changed the rear part of the 
pan, but on my 64 T-34, the rear part of the brake line actually passed thru 2 
layers back there (the pan and the mounting plate for the rear subframe). I 
don't think you can actually get into the tunnel, without drilling a hole 
though.
If everything is as you say it is, you might be better off drilling a hole 
somewhere.
Sorry, I'm not much more help.

Bob 65 Notch with sunroof</HTML>